Life, 1899-12-14 · page 6 of 20
Life — December 14, 1899 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 510 This page discusses American illustrators in holiday books rather than political cartoons. The main cartoon (bottom left) appears to be a humorous domestic scene showing two figures and a dog near a fence, with dialogue about blindness and "the wrong board." The specific satirical meaning is unclear without additional context, though it seems to mock someone's poor judgment or perception. The portrait labeled "MR. I. ZANGWILL" (right side) is a sketch of what appears to be a literary figure. The text praises various American illustrators and their work on fiction and holiday editions, highlighting artists like Pyle, Gibson, and others who contributed to book illustration during this period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The American Illustrator in Holiday Books. HE American illustrator comes very much to the fore in this season's unusually large crop of holiday books. Less and less aro Christmas books the big, unwieldy quartos (whieh were never intended to be read); but they aro mostly books which tho public has liked to read in large quantities, Itisaverg fitting uxe of illustration thus to devote it to those books which already bave pleasant associations in the minds of readers. ‘The taste displayed in most of these books is excellent, and there is little attempt to make a gaudy show out of poor material. The general impression created by current bookmaking is that it is honest and ambitious, Competition has not cheapened, but enhanced, the quality of pictures and presswork, Good writing has earned for itself the right to be illustrated artistically, Among books of fictlon thus chosen for special editions the most notable is Hugh Wynne" (Century Co,), which not only contains Mr, Pylo's original paintings, but selections from the old prints, photographs and memorabilia collected by Mr. Ellsworth for his lecture on the period. Another Revolutionary story richly illustrated by Mr. Pyle and his pupils is Maul L, Ford's “Janice Meredith” (Dodd, Mead & Co.) From Mr. Crawford's long list of novels the Macmillans have chosen the very best one, * Saracinesca,” for Orson Lowell’s beau- tiful drawings, Theso exhibit the artist's skill, both in wash drawing (reproduced ty photogravure) and in pon work, “BCT YOU ANE NOT BLIND!" “NO, SOR. LAM DEAP AND DUMB.'T BUT YOUR SIGN SAYS BLIND," OM, BEGURRA! IT'S THE WRONG BoaRD I'VE, MR. 1. ZANGWILL. Tho Harpers havo mado sumptuous oditions of “Ben Hur,” “Vanity Fair,” and of Howells’s recent novel, “Their Silver Wedding Journey.” From the Seribners two new pleces of flection aro especially well illustrated. Glackens has made for Mr. Page's “Santa Claus's Partner” pictures in color which are original in method and very successfully reproduced. Mr. Soton-Thompson’s own pictures for “Tho Trail of the Sandhill Stag” aro not only artistic, but show the accurate knowledge of the trained naturalist. . . HE illustrator also has books of his own, with no ald from writers to make them attractive. This is a very modern development and Mr. Russell has been the pioneer fa it, His success has encouraged others te make books and portfolios of pictures alone—not the old-fashioned “art book” of the centre table, which was an atrocity, but cartoons that represent modern subjects and modern methods, Mr. Gibson's volume this year is “The Education of Mr. Pipp,” with which all of Lure’s readers aro familiar, In book form the series gains immensely by the continuity of the story told, 80 that the humor and satire of it aro cumulative. Tho public and tho critics agreo that this is Mr. Gibsou’s most sustained work as an artist, showing great variety in subject and composition, and